An Effective Method
by Missmishka
Summary: During a lecture from Logan, Kitty puts a theory on the most effective method to shut someone up to the test. Things kind of snowball after that. CHAPTER 7 UPLOADED!
1. Default Chapter

DISCLAIMER: X-Men Evolution and all characters therein are the property of Marvel Comics/Entertainment, Inc. This fic is written for entertainment purposes only and is not intended to infringe upon any copyrights in any way.

A/N: At this time this story is only planned as what you see with no followup or additional chapters. If there's a demand and more of a story comes to me that may change. This story is all for laughs and, though it involves kissing, it's not intended as a romance. Feedback of any kind is always welcome via the review option here, AIM to Missmishka or email to missmishka@aol.com. Thanks & Enjoy the fic.

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**__**

An Effective Method

I don't remember when or where I heard it. I just know that at some point in my life the idea was planted in my subconscious. This theory of _the_ way to shut someone up without resorting to arguing, a total tantrum or stomping childishly from the room was whirling around in my brain.

At this particular moment it's a theory that merits testing as I stand here in the garage at the institute listening to Logan lecture. It's hard to believe anyone would be complaining about _Logan_ of all people having too much to say on a topic, but he was like really on a roll here. He just kept going on and on and _on_ about the teeny tiny little ding I accidentally put on the X-Van while driving under his supervision for the second time.

Ok, so _maybe_ I did kinda get off the road a bit and take out a mailbox, but it was only my fourth time behind the wheel! I mean, it like totally isn't _my_ fault I can't get any practice in to actually improve my driving skills 'cause everyone around here avoids me like the plague when I even think of asking someone over eighteen to let me take 'em for a spin. It's a total conspiracy and so _not_ my fault. 

Even if it was my fault does it really deserve a diatribe like this?

I mean, I'm hearing all kinds of kinda depressing things in all he's saying. Like that eye roll inducing 'Driving is a privilege and _not_ a right.' 'You cannot rely on your phasing to get you out of every tricky situation you find yourself in while driving. What would you do if you're on a collision course with something and you've tapped out your powers?' Then there was the very insulting groan of 'Who in their right mind gave you this learner's permit?!" And another really bad omen was the fact that he's addressing my solely as 'Pryde' with total sternness instead of the 'kid' or 'half pint' he usually calls me with reluctant indulgence in his tone.

All signs are definitely pointing to an end of my driving privileges after today's outing and it is an utter injustice that that's the case because of _one_ little accident. 

__

Ok, so those other times he's mentioning in his lecture did kinda happen, but I phased through everything I was gonna hit and didn't put so much as one itty bitty little scratch on the vehicle before that stupid mailbox. Everything he's saying just goes to show that I need _more_ practice so I can actually pass the driving test and get my license.

Unfortunately he is not letting me get a word in edgewise to say something along those lines and I am really kinda starting to fume. I mean I am like so close to having myself a major hissy fit then stomping off in a total huff to my room, but I really think this situation calls for some maturity and if I wanna portray myself as all kinds of responsible childish tantrums will not do. 

That's where this theory keeps coming in. I don't recall any specifics about it or the context in which I came to know of it, but the gist comes to mind. It's a simple idea that theorizes if you really _really_ wanna totally shut someone up then _the_ method to use is to kiss them right smack dab on their yammering mouth.

So at this point I'm toning out what he's saying now and just focusing consideringly on his lips. Aside from the fact that they're Logan's there was nothing special about them. It's just a mouth and I could totally kiss is if I wanna test this theory. 

It'd be just like kissing anyone. Like kissing Lance.

__

I like kissing Lance.

I really don't think I wanna like kissing Mr. Logan, though. Not that I'm likely to like it, I mean kissing the Wolverine … it's not something I'm doing for pleasure here. This lecture is showing no signs of stopping on it's own and I'm kinda growing desperate to make him stop before he actually comes right out and says 'no more driving for you.'

And desperate times notoriously call for desperate measures, so … here goes.

"Wha - " he breaks off whatever he'd been saying to exclaim in surprise as a press myself against him, raise my hands to grip the back of his neck and close my blue eyes tightly.

Whatever else he'd been planning to say was effectively cut off by my open mouth closing over his. Determined to really silence him I use the fact that his lips are parted from speaking to my advantage and totally let him have it. I lean my whole body against his, slide my fingers up into his dark hair and thrust my tongue into his mouth to poke at his in a way Lance always seems to like. 

The fact that his tongue doesn't respond to or mimic my actions fails to really register as I'm busy realizing a few things. 

Like Logan's hair is really silky and feels nice around my fingers. 

And his lips are firm yet with a softness to them that makes my lips wanna cling. 

And he tastes really good. I can detect the minty flavor of his mouthwash and toothpaste as well as a vaguely familiar tang that I can't identify so I run my tongue around his mouth trying to decipher the taste. 

And those scraggly whiskers of stubble along his jaw tickle in a surprisingly nice kinda way. A way that makes me like … tingle just a bit and causes me to rub my face against his to feel the prickly friction of that stubble even more.

And for once his big muscular body isn't totally dwarfing my petite frame as I'm all pressed up against it. In fact, it's almost like we kinda fit together. There's no real straining to make up for a major height difference like with Lance 'cause despite the fact that his personality make him seem like ten feet tall, Logan's really about the same height as I am. 

Just as I'm getting kinda wrapped up in the 'WOW' effect of kissing Logan, it becomes very clear that he isn't feeling a similar effect. In fact, he's not even participating. At that particular moment his big strong hands are clamping down on my shoulders and he's kinda really pushing me away to break the kiss. He then proceeds to hold me firmly at arm's length as if afraid I'm gonna jump at him again and with a blush heating my cheeks I reluctantly open my eyes to see if this method worked.

To call him shocked would be a phenomenal understatement. He's totally staring at me like I've suddenly grown another head or just announced I'm a Martian and his mouth opens and shuts a few times like in his mind he's saying stuff but there's just no sound coming out. Or maybe he's doing one of those fish out of water impersonations people tend to do when they've really been surprised. 

After like an eternity of whatever he was doing, he cautiously removes his hands from my shoulders and steps back with them still upraised to hold me back should I move toward him. Once assured I wasn't gonna like jump his bones or something, he shakes his head does the mouth opening and closing thing one more time, scratches the underside of his jaw with a curious expression on his face then turns abruptly on his heel and leaves the garage.

As I watch him walk away - _by the way, how is it I never noticed until just then that those jeans he wears really show off what a firm sexy butt he's got?_ – it sinks in that I did it! Without resorting to childish measures like holding my breath until he stopped lecturing, I stopped his lecturing!

Ok, so I'm not particularly capable of speech myself at this moment as I'm coming to terms with the realization that Mr. Logan is kind of a hottie, but that's not the point. The mission was to silence the one who'd been talking and Logan had been doing all the talking and I totally zipped his lips. With a simple little kiss inspired by some obscure little piece of info that suddenly sprang to the forefront of my thoughts, I Kathryn 'Kitty' 'Shadowcat' Pryde totally silenced the infamous Wolverine!

__

Talk about WOW.

He probably thinks I've got a mad crush on him or something now, but … I can so live with that. I mean those means totally justified that end. And it was like all in the sake of science or research or some such junk 'cause I was testing a theory. 

And after that highly successful test I must say that kissing a chatterbox kicked major A as an effective method of shutting up said chatterbox.

__

I have so gotta tell this to the others!

Finally leaving the garage and heading into the mansion to round up the girls, I wonder briefly if the same method could be used to get myself out of those grueling training sessions of Logan's.

__

Be worth a try.

With a big smile I make a mental note to totally try it sometime. I then get a bit distracted from my mission to share my newfound knowledge with my teammates as I suddenly start thinking thoughts of another kiss and maybe him actually participating in the next one.

If there is a next one.


	2. Logan's POV

**__**

Logan's POV

I shoulda done just what everyone else does when Kitty comes after them with that 'I wanna drive' glint in her eyes, but like an idiot I just stayed working on my motorcycle and hoping she wouldn't notice my presence in the garage. 

__

Like I would ever have that kind luck.

So I now find myself being subjected to her puppy dog pleading eyes and promises that 'it'll just be a quick spin around the block' and avowals that 'she's gotten better since the first time. Like anyone would in my shoes, I fold and agree to accompany her so she can get some more practice driving with her learner's permit.

When she actually waits until the gate opens to pull from the institute's driveway onto the main road, I'm thinking this may not be as nightmarish and experience as the first time I got suckered into this duty. Maybe her expeditions with Cyke or the Prof. helped her get a bit of that recklessness out of her system.

Then she starts fiddling with the radio dials, taking all her attention off the road, until she finds a station blaring pop music only a kid her age could enjoy. For a moment I'm too busy grabbing onto the dashboard for dear life as the van veers off the road straight toward a very large oak tree to really notice the migraine inducing tunes. After she realizes she's about to wreck with a giggly 'Oops' before quickly jerking the wheel to put the vehicle back on the road I dare to breathe normally again and that's when I hear the music.

"No distractions," I growl and reach over to shut the noise maker off. "Keep your eyes _and_ the van on the road."

She sighs at that, but says nothing as she approaches an intersection. 

Just as she had the first time I endangered my life by being a passenger with her behind the wheel, the kid not only does _not_ come to a complete stop at the stop sign on the corner, she takes a quick look to make sure there's no other traffic around then turns to the right, cutting the turn so tightly she has to use her mutation to phase through the sign or else take the thing out with the van. The journey continues much like that, with her attention wavering and the vehicle weaving left into the lane of oncoming traffic then right to bounce off the edge of the road until she takes out an innocent mailbox and I finally have reason to put a stop to the outing. 

"Home," I order in my most intimidating tone. "Now."

"But - " she begins with her eyes leaving the road to focus imploringly on me.

"Now, Pryde."

Visibly pouting she does as ordered and turns us toward home, where she phases straight through the front gate rather than even trying to open the metal barrier.

I gladly yank the keys from the X-Van's ignition the second she's managed to park it in the garage without driving through the back wall of the building or hitting the other vehicles parked inside. 

She turns to look at me and clearly intends to say something in her own defense, but I open the passenger side door and exit the van before she can say anything. As I quietly shut the door after touching down on the ground, I hear her exiting the driver's side.

"Look at this," I growl as my eyes settle on the chipped paint and small dent on the vehicle from her crashing it into that mailbox.

Tentatively she comes to stand beside me and look at the damage I'm glaring at. 

"Oops. It's, like, not that bad," she glances at the dent then at me then bites her lip and goes back to staring at the mark.

"This time," I cross my arms over my chest and sink completely into lecture mode. "This time the damage isn't bad, Pryde, but the next time it could be. The next time it could be a person instead of a mailbox. The next time the van could be totaled and you killed because of how easily distracted you can be while behind the wheel," she's got that pouty 'but I didn't mean to' look in place as she stares at me a bit blankly waiting for the lecture to end. "Look, I know you're really excited about having your permit and that you really wanna get your license and be able to drive yourself around, but the fact is driving is a privilege not a right. Some people aren't qualified to handle a potentially deadly piece of machinery like a car. I'm not saying you're one of those people," I hold a hand up to stop whatever she's planning to say at that. 

"You've got a lot of work to do yet and there a few things you have to accept before you get around to that work. The number one thing you have to remember is that you can't rely on your mutation. You have got to pay attention to the road ahead of you and _avoid_ obstacles, _not _just phase through them at the last minute. And you have to remember to stay in your lane. The white line marks the edge of the road and you don't wanna go over that. The yellow lines divide the road into two or more separate lanes and often in that other lane you have oncoming traffic. You endanger yourself and others when you wander into that lane then swerve sharply back out of it when you realize there's a truck heading straight at you," I arch my brow in a way that reminds her that just that kinda thing happened and she closes her mouth instead of making whatever protest she'd been thinking of. "Another really big thing that's gonna stop you from passing an actual driving test is your failure to stop at Stop signs. And your depth perception's a bit off if the way you take turns is any kind of indication. You cut them far too closely for anyone's good. Those sidewalks you so casually run up over often have pedestrians on them and hitting pedestrians with a virtual tank like the X-Van would be a _very bad thing_."

__

As would your actually getting a driver's license, I add mentally. _I mean, who in their right mind even gave this girl a learner's permit?_

Uh-oh.

She's looking at me all angry and shocked and I'm guessing I spoke those thoughts aloud.

"Look, Kitty," I try to be a bit nicer about this, "I don't mean to …," I trail off as she's suddenly placing her hands on my shoulders and leaning against me in a blatant invasion of my personal space. "What - "

Next thing I know the kid's kissing me. 

Not a little peck on the cheek like she's done a time or two to thank me for doing something nice, but an all out actual kiss. Her little body's pressing into mine, her little hands are locked around my neck with her fingers playing in the hair at my nape and her … 

__

My God, her tongue is playing with mine!

Eyes wide open in complete shock at this, I clamp my hands on her shoulders and push her away as I slowly step back. She doesn't put up much of a fight at my rejection, but just in case whatever came over her occurs again I keep my hands firmly locked on her shoulders to keep her at a relatively safe distance as I try to figure out what the heck just happened.

__

What just …Does she … Did she … Did I … Who …When … How … Was that … Why … What the … Huh? 

A couple hundred questions suddenly whirl around in my head, but no complete sentence forms to actually be asked so I slowly close my gaping mouth. Watching closely for the slightest hint of another move toward me on Kitty's part, I cautiously move my hands off her shoulders and begin stepping back with my arms remaining upraised to ward her off should she try making a move. 

She seems pretty ok just standing right where she is, so I take a deep calming breath and lower my arms. An utterly self-satisfied smile curves her lips and lights her eyes at my reaction and my mind and body both agree at that moment that it is time to get the heck outta Dodge.

I turn on my heels and exit the garage with my thoughts revolving around whether that had actually been a kiss or a really weird kinda Twilight Zone episode. Then when I'm forced to admit that the half-pint actually laid one on me, I begin wondering what exactly I did to encourage her and how the heck I can undo it.

"Ah, Logan, there you are," the Prof suddenly interrupts my thoughts as I enter the mansion via the front door with plans to go destroy a few things in the Danger Room to help myself think. "How was your excursion with Kitty?"

I give my standard noncommittal grunt, fish the keys to the X-Van out of my pocket and toss them to the bald man.

"Never again. Hank, Jean, Ro and Scott are all of age to be that kids test dummy. Next time you sic her on one of them when she gets that determined gleam in her eye," I order while walking past him.

"Did something happen?" he asks with a bit of concern. 

__

Yeah, you could say that, I think while giving him an 'I don't wanna talk about it growl' in answer to the question.


	3. The Plot Thickens

A/N: Sorry for the major delay in updating, I totally lost focus on almost all my fics in progress and getting on back on track has been difficult. Hopefully this chapter will get me back in the swing of things, but be warned further updates may be a while.

This story from here on out is taken from the suggestion of Desert-Rose6 to have all the X-Grrls testing the theory. Thanks so much for that suggestion and I hope y'all enjoy.

WARNING: This chapter contains a for comedic purposes only girl/girl kiss.

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The Plot Thickens

"Whoo hoo, Kitty," Tabitha jumps up from where she's sitting on the edge of my desk to give me an unexpected high five. "Macking on the Badger! I didn't know you had it in ya, girl."

"I so was _not_ macking on him," I defend myself, incredulous at the very idea. 

"But you kissed him?" Amara asks as Jean and Rogue continue to just stare at me.

"Well, yeah, but it wasn't a _kiss_ kiss," I try to clarify. "I was testing a theory."

"What theory?" Rogue asks skeptically from the chair she's sitting in.

"What was it like?" Tabitha asks at the same time while moving to sit next to me on my bed. "I bet he's a great kisser. Just looking at him and all you know he's one of those passionate animalistic like lovers. Did he get all masterful with you or was he showing that softer side of his and being all slow and gentle?"

"He didn't do anything," I roll my eyes at her. "_I_ did everything. He just kinda stood there for a minute then stopped me and walked away."

"You didn't answer the first question," Amara squeezes between me and Jean to sit herself on the bed. "What was it like?"

__

I shoulda known they'd hound me for that info, I close my eyes with a sigh.

"Oooooh, look at that blush!" I hear Tabitha crowing beside me and groan. "Kitty, you ho, you liked it!"

"I did not," I lie automatically.

"Oh, yes you did," the blonde argues. "That is a very _very_ telling blush and what it's telling us is you made out with the Badger and liked it!"

"His codename is Wolverine _not_ Badger and if you have trouble remembering that then just call him Logan," I stand up and inform the other girl. "And there was no making out."

"Awww," BoomBoom smiles and moves to playfully hug Amara while wiping theatrically at a non-existent tear, "isn't that adorable! The Kitty-cat's showing her claws in defense of her man."

"Hardy har har," I sigh and cross my arms over my chest as the two girls laugh at that. 

"Kitty and Logan sitting in a tree - " they begin singing after a moment.

"Oh puh-lease," Rogue rolls her eyes at their antics.

"K-I-S-S-I-N - "

"That's enough," Jean and I say in sync.

"But we're not to the best part yet," the singing duo protests. "First comes love, then comes - " they begin again.

"Shut up," I snap at their immaturity.

"Or what?" Tabitha stops singing to ask with a wicked grin. "You'll kiss us?"

"If it comes to that," I bite my lip to keep from laughing at her expression when I say that so seriously.

"Let's get back on topic," Rogue rises to stand before me. "Exactly what kinda theory is there that requires yer kissin' Logan to test it?"

"Oooh, Rogue your eyes are looking sooo green right now," Tabby teases and gets a murderous glare from the goth girl. "I knew you had the hots for him."

"Ah don't have tha hots fer him," she states just as unconvincingly as I stated my not liking my Logan kiss. 

"We're venturing off topic again," Jean breaks in before the two really get into an argument. "Kitty, why did you call this meeting?"

"Because I got an idea," I begin excitedly.

"From kissin' Logan?" Rogue interrupts and rolls her eyes impatiently when I glare at her for not letting me finish before asking questions I totally plan on answering in my explanation.

"Can we get past the whole kissing thing?" I groan. "The _only_ reason I kissed him was to test a theory."

"And again, Ah wanna know what theory ya could possibly have been testin' that called fer ya ta kiss mah man," I blink in surprise at her possessive words and tone then bite back a smile as Rogue realizes what she's said and blushes beneath her heavy makeup. "Ah mean - "

"Oh, we heard you, honey, and we knoooow what you meant," Tabby picks back up on her teasing. "You're finally staking your claim on the big guy."

"Ah am not," the goth girl argues heatedly. "Oh, Ah give up on all y'all," she groans when even I'm having to bite my lip to keep from laughing at just how unconvincing her denials are. "Can we get this ovah with?"

"Yes, let's do that," Jean seconds. "I've got a date with Scott that I really need to start getting ready for."

__

Yes, ma'am, I think with a mental sigh at her tone.

"Ok, like, here's my idea. In science you have you perform like tons of tests and experiments to prove a single theory or the effectiveness of a particular method. It's best to have multiple studies going at the same time to provide a variety of results and really put things to the test, so I want you all to help me prove this theory," I begin excitedly.

"Fer tha last tahme, what is this damned theory you keep yammerin' about?" Rogue interrupts impatiently.

"I'm getting to that if you'd like give me five more seconds," I reply with a silencing glare at which she just rolls her eyes. "Now, as I was saying before being totally interrupted," she gives me a 'just get on with it' glare of her own when I glance pointedly in her direction as I speak those words. "You've all had situations where you're being lectured or have someone talking on and on about something you like don't care about and you just want the conversation to end, right?" As expected they all nod and I continue, "Well, that's what happened today for me with Logan. He was letting me practice driving around the block - "

"Oh my God," Amara interrupts this time with a wicked gleam in her eyes that indicates she's been spending _way_ too much time with Tabitha. "What did you run over?"

"I am a totally good driver and I'll have you know I didn't run over anything," I state with a bit of a pout at this reputation I've gotten as a bad driver. "I just kinda grazed a mailbox," I admit quietly. "But that's beside the point," I inform them all firmly as they begin laughing at my latest experience behind the wheel of a vehicle. "As I was saying before I was once again interrupted," Amara shrugs sheepishly in response to my glare in her direction, "Logan was letting me drive and after the mailbox thing he made me bring the van home and when we got back he started on this lecture about driving safety and junk. I really didn't need to hear all that, but he was in total speech mode and I had to get him to shut up before he like revoked my driving privileges. So I started trying to think of a way to shut him up - "

"What's wrong with just telling him to shut up? That's my method," Tabitha interrupts.

"That," the blonde is on the receiving end of my increasingly impatient and angry glare, "much like interrupting a person, is just plain rude. Plus, it never works," I tell her. "I mean, how many times have you told Logan to shut up and had him actually do it?"

"None, but every time I do it this vein in his forehead starts pulsing and he growls all sexy before starting on that 'respecting your elders' speech he seems to have perfected just for me," BoomBoom says casually while shifting to recline back on my bed.

"Right," I roll my eyes at her response and the way Rogue goes back to glaring daggers at the blonde. "So like I said, that method doesn't work. Neither does arguing with whatever lecture they're giving, which only leads to yelling and major bad moods for all involved or just storming off in a huff which only puts the lecture off until another time. With those options all ruled out I was left with just one way to shut Logan up today and stop his speech cold. I kissed him and it totally worked. He stood there, like, in shock then just left, lecture and bad driving experience forgotten," I smile triumphantly at my success. 

"Yeah, we all got tha kissin' Logan part already," Rogue says as I take a moment to bask in my glory. "What's that got ta do with us?"

"I think we should all put the theory to the test. Whenever you find yourself in a situation where someone is just talking non-stop and you want them to stop, it could be a lecture or just a conversation that's boring you, lay a totally surprising and unexpected wet one on them and just see how well it works to shut them up."

"So you're saying that the next time Logan's lecturing me on the dangers of putting one of my lil firecrackers down Bobby's pants when I get bored during a training session, I should just kiss him?" Tabitha sits upright and leans forward with an eager grin. "I can do that."

"You are not kissing Logan," Rogue says in a cool, firm tone without any trace of her Southern accent.

"Why not?" the blonde tilts her head to the side with an expression that indicates she wants to cause even more trouble with the goth girl. "Kitty did," I glare at her for dragging me into this brewing battle. "It's only fair we all get a taste of those Logan lips."

"You," the redhead steps forward to stand over the sitting new recruit, "are _not kissing_ Logan."

"Girls," Jean jumps to her feet and moves between the pair when Tabitha rises to stand toe to toe with the older X-Woman, "relax. Rogue," the telepath turns to address her teammate calmly, "she's only acting this way to get a reaction from you. Tabitha," she turns to the blonde, "tell Rogue you're not really interested in Logan."

"Fine," BoomBoom sighs and looks around the human barrier between her and her verbal sparring partner. "Rogue," I groan at the mischievous gleam still evident in the blonde's eyes, "I have no interest in Logan," she says in compliance to Jean's order. "I'm only interested in that big muscled body of his. Preferably shirtless with that torso all slicked up with oil."

I move forward to help Jean restrain Rogue at that taunt and Amara hops up to pull Tabitha back before the two come to blows. 

"If you two can behave for five minutes," I grind out while using all my strength to keep a hold of my teammate and keep her from ripping the blonde's hair out like she's threatening to do as she struggles to break free of our restraining hands, "I'll wrap this meeting up and you can go duke this out elsewhere."

Blue eyes widening at the idea that we'd actually allow a fight, Tabitha instantly lost all traces of mischief and sat down on the bed again with a weary look at Rogue. Smiling at the obviously intimated girl, Rogue relaxes and returns to where she'd been sitting at my desk the second Jean and I let her go.

"Good," I exchange a smile with Jean then get back to business. "Here's what I've got in mind. For the next two weeks we'll all test the various methods of shutting a person up, with an emphasis on using kisses to silence them."

"When you say 'person,'" Amara begins curiously, "do you mean we can perform the tests on male or female subjects?"

"Yes. There are no restrictions on who you can test on, they just have to be talking and you have to genuinely want them to stop talking. Remember that it _is not_ about kissing like 'I like you' kissing, it's just kissing to silence the person."

"Can it be both?" Tabitha asks. "I mean, I could like someone but still want them to shut up if they just keep on talking about something."

"Sure, it can be both, but making out is _not_ the goal of the experiments. You can enjoy the kiss and all, but you have to end it and make sure you've silenced your subject," I lay down that rule.

"There's a little problem with me participatin' in this li'l idea of yours," Rogue says a bit bitterly behind me, "Ah already know how effective this method is."

"You do?" Jean and I ask in sync.

"Yeah, Ah do," she rises and assumes a defensive stance with her arms crossed over her chest. "People are always speechless after I kiss or touch them. It's hard ta talk when you're knocked unconscious," she uncrosses her arms and removes a glove to wave her bare hand around. "Mah skin, remember?"

"Oh," I blink and realize I really haven't thought this thing through as well as I should have. "Well, you can focus on testing the other methods. Tell the person to shut up, leave the room things like that," I suggest.

"Fahne, Ah can do that," she smiles and moves toward me. "Shut up," she tells me when she's right in front of me.

"Hey," I gasp in offense at the order.

"Well, that method failed," she slides her glove back on and tucks a stray lock of white hair back behind her ear. "Yer still talkin' so Ah'll test that othah method ya mentioned," she stalks from the room and slams the door behind her.

"Let me see that I've got this straight," Amara says as if all that just hadn't happened. "Our mission, if we chose to accept it," she and Tabitha snicker at that, "is to shut someone up by any means necessary?"

"I wouldn't say 'by any means necessary,'" I cringe inwardly at the thought of Tabitha getting angry and shoving one of her firecrackers somewhere it didn't belong to shut a person up then blaming me when she gets in trouble for it.

"Ok, just telling them to shut up, arguing with them, leaving the room or kissing them?" Magma asks for clarification. 

"Yes," I smile, "lets keep it to just those methods and - "

I really should have seen it coming from the way she'd been questioning me and that gleam in her eyes that she'd picked up from Tabitha, but I guess I just wasn't paying all that much attention. One second I'm calmly going over the details of my bright idea and then the next I've got a Nova Roman princess wrapped around me with her lips pressing hard against mine and cutting off the flow of words I'd been speaking.

My eyes widen in surprise as she mouth moves over mine and my hands fly upward to push her away. When my palms press against breasts instead of shoulders I blush the reddest shade of embarrassment humanly possible then push back so hard I end up falling hard onto my butt on the floor. With a sinking suspicion that this is exactly how Logan felt after my kiss, I gape up at Amara in disbelief and she doubles over laughing when she sees my expression. Tabitha jumps up from the bed and gives her friend a high five then joins the younger girl in laughing at my expense. My disbelief quickly turns to a bit of anger, but I'm still unable to put together a coherent verbal retaliation to the kiss. 

"I'd say that test was successful," Magma says delightedly, wiping tears of mirth from her eyes.

"I'll say," BoomBoom seconds with a glance to her right where Jean was, "you even shocked Red here speechless."

Cringing inwardly I look over and see that my teammate is indeed shocked by what she's just witnessed. 

"I do believe this meeting's over," I hear Amara remark as I bury my face in my hands. "Let's go find some more test subjects."

Groaning I hear them walking away then the door to my room opens and shuts as they leave it. 

"This cannot be a good idea," Jean finds her voice to say and with an even louder groan I have to agree that she's probably right.


	4. She Kissed Me

**__**

She Kissed Me

"I need some advice," I say as soon as I enter Ororo's little garden room up in the attic.

"Nothing serious I hope," the weather Goddess turns from watering a bunch of exotic plants to give me her full attention. 

"I hope not," I mutter under my breath and take a moment to think out how to discuss Kitty's crush on me. "I just need a … female perspective on something."

"Ahh," she gives me a rather knowing smile and sits down on a wooden bench in the room. "Would this something be in regards to a certain young X-Woman?"

"Yeah," I respond with a bit of surprise at her insight. "How'd you know that?"

"Woman's intuition, I suppose. I've noticed something special growing between the two of you lately. The way the two of you are so in sync with each other when working a mission together. How relaxed you are around her and she around you. How easily you communicate with each other. Little things like that."

"So you think I've been encouraging her feelings for me?" I sigh as I really didn't want that to be the case.

"You say that as if you don't appreciate her having such feelings," she frowns a little at that. "I had assumed that what's happening between the two of you was mutual and you were here seeking advice on how to take the relationship to the next level."

"No," I state emphatically. "No next level. She's just a kid 'Ro and not exactly my type."

"I had thought most anything female, single and with a pulse fell into the category of 'your type,'" she jokes, knowing enough about my past relationships to feel comfortable poking fun at them.

"I'm not saying she's unattractive. I mean, nice body, great personality and really a lot of the things a guy could want in a gal but I just don't think of her _that _way. She's like a kid sister to me."

"Logan, I've seen the way you look at her and it is not in a familial manner. I'd also wager good money that you think her body more than just 'nice.'" 

"I've never looked at Kitty inappropriately," I growl, disbelieving that 'Ro would imply that I had.

__

Maybe I have looked once or twice when she was in uniform, but I'm a guy and she wears tight spandex that shows off her body and I can't **not** look at it some. It's just the guy thing to do.

"Of course, you haven't but what has Kitty to do with … Wait, a minute," she frowns again in confusion. "We are talking about Rogue here, aren't we?"

"Rogue? What's she got to do with Pryde's crush on me?"

She blinks at that and asks after a moment, "Kathryn has a crush on you, too?"

"Too? Are you sayin' that someone else – that Rogue's got one on me?"

"You weren't aware of that?"

"If the Rogue's into anyone around here, we all know its Cyke not me." 

"We all know that she had a bit of an infatuation with Scott, yes, but it was never serious." 

"That may be, but still, she doesn't think of _me_ thatway," I state firmly before thoughtfully scratching at my jaw at the idea that I may be wrong. "Does she?"

"All signs I've seen point to yes," the knowing smile returns and she gives me a slightly amused look. "Just as all signs indicate that you return her feelings," I resist the urge to fidget under her stare and instead assume a careless macho man stance that neither confirms or denies her statement. "I suppose that's a conversation we'll have another day, though. Let's get back to Kitty," she frowns again as if the idea of Shadowcat having a crush on me is the most unlikely thing on Earth. "You're saying that _she_ has a crush on you?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure she does," I flash back to the feel of Pryde's tongue in my mouth and her body gluing itself to mine.

"Are you sure it's a crush? Maybe you're just misreading something she - "

"She kissed me," I interrupt.

"Well," Ororo blinks at that then regains her composure, "she's done that before, hasn't she? A kiss on the cheek - "

"She didn't kiss my cheek," I interrupt her again with a pointed stare.

"Well," she blinks again then stares at me wide eyed as my implication sinks in. "Oh."

"Yeah."

"She couldn't have just maybe missed her target?"

"Her tongue was halfway down my throat."

"Kathryn's?" she asks in complete disbelief. "Her tongue?" she gapes at me when I nod in answer to her first disbelieving question.

"Yeah. Kitty's tongue," I state in a firm tone that leaves her in no doubt of my certainty.

"Well … I …," she stops attempting to speak for a moment and I can see her collecting her thoughts. "I have no idea how to react to that," she pushes a lock of long white hair back from her face. "How exactly did it happen?"

"I dunno. One second I'm lecturing her about driving safely after another nightmarish experience as a passenger in a vehicle she's driving and the next I've gotta pry her off me," I begin pacing the rather cramped confines of the room. 

"Did you maybe do something to encourage her?"

"If she takes insults to her driving abilities as 'encouragement,' then yeah, I was givin' her a major green light to throw herself at me," I say sarcastically and get a slight glare from her in response to my tone. "No," I answer the question more seriously. "I ain't done nothing to encourage the kid feelin' like _that_ toward me. I've only ever been myself around her."

"That certainly shouldn't inspire such actions from the girl," she teases and I growl at the taunt. "Ok," she visibly restrains a smile, "let's get to the point here. What are you going to do about all this?"

"That's what I'm here to ask you. I don't wanna hurt the kid, but she's gotta know that what happened can't happen again," I pick up the speed of my pacing. "I'm not exactly experienced in these situations."

"Do sit down, the caged animal routine is making me dizzy," Ororo orders while making room on the bench next to herself. "Now, what was your reaction to the kiss?" she asks me as soon as I'm seated. 

"Shock," I reply honestly, running a hand roughly through my hair. "I still can't believe she actually did it."

"You're not the only one there," she mutters, forgetting my keen hearing until I give her a glance that makes it clear I heard the comment. "What I meant was did you participate in any way or say anything afterward to encourage or discourage her trying something like that again?"

"No participation," I state so fiercely she flinches and I tone things down before continuing. "I didn't do or say anything. I was just … shocked. The second it registered what was happening I pushed her away and when I couldn't think of anything to say I just left."

"That … should be good," she comments thoughtfully, while rising to her feet to do some pacing herself. "It sounds like you adequately rebuffed her advances physically. Now all you should need to do is back your actions up with a verbal statement of non-interest."

"That a fancy way of sayin' I gotta tell her there ain't a chance in hell of us actually hookin' up?"

"It's a fancy way of saying that you have to let her down gently, Logan," I smirk at the stern glance I get at my coarse words.

"I know that much, 'Ro, that's why I came to you. What do I say?" I ask with an almost helpless gesturing of my hands. "I'm not the type to dress things up and spare feelings here."

She accepts that fact with a nod then ponders the situation for a few moments and comes to a conclusion.

"I think perhaps, I should speak with her. Not," she hurries on when I make to protest that suggestion, "mentioning any names, I have more tact than that. Just a general woman to woman talk about crushes in general during which I can gauge her feelings for you and determination just what actions are needed."

"Sounds like a plan," I jump to my feet, thrilled at being spared the awkward conversation I'd been envisioning with Pryde.

"Not so fast, Wolverine," Storm's firm tone of voice stops me in my tracks when I begin heading for the door. "This doesn't mean you're off the hook or I'm going to clean up your mess here. I - "

"This isn't my mess," I turn and defend myself. "It's just a mess that happens to involve me."

"Semantics, Logan, and however you try to avoid the issue you're going to fail. Kitty has openly expressed her feelings toward you and _you_ are going to have to acknowledge her actions sooner or later. All I'm going to do is help to determine the best way for you to do that."

Cursing inwardly at her unbending tone, I nod my agreement with her words then leave the room with plans forming in my head to go down to the garage and work on fixing the damage done to the X-Van before dinner. 

Ten minutes after leaving the attic, though, I'm trudging back up the stairs and again interrupting Ororo as she tried to tend to the exotic plants she kept there.

"What's wrong now?" she asks with concern at my expression upon registering that I've returned.

"You're gonna need to have a talk with Aquilla, too," I grind out, still in shock over what _just_ happened to me.

"Amara? About what?" 

"Crush on me," I answer simply.

"Now, Logan, you can't expect me to believe that she's infatuated with you, too," my friend observes me skeptically with one hand going to rest on her hip.

As calmly as possible I raise a hand to wipe my mouth and then wave it at the woman with a growled, "She kissed me."

"Goodness gracious," she exclaims in surprise as she recognizes the shade of lipstick smeared on my fingers as that preferred by Magma. "Do I want to know what happened?" 

"I have no idea," I shake my head and move to flop down on the bench we'd sat on moments ago. "I was just on my way to the garage when …."

~*~

A/N: *hehe* I know, I know, I'm slightly evil for leaving off here, but the 'what happened' is gonna be a lot funnier from Amara's POV and that's what the next chapter will be, which I hope to have ready to upload in a few days.


	5. Say Cheese

A Few Quick Thanks:

First HUGE thanks to all readers and reviewers and I'm glad you're enjoying the series so far. :-)

Vegeta7423, thanks and I'm very glad to have my Evo story ideas working again. Hopefully I'll be back in the swing of the fandom with this series. 

Desert-Rose6, just all around hugs to you 'cause you're a major driving force behind my being able to write this story. ((HUGS))

Pyromaniac666, no need for tears I've updated! Hope ya like the chappie. :-)

Wittyfantom12, *hmmm & noncommittal smile at the Ororo kiss suggestion* Thanks for the review and keep those chipmunks away. :-P

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**__**

Say Cheese

"I cannot believe you did that," Tabitha continues to gaze at me in awe as we walk away from Kitty's room. 

"Don't tell me you weren't thinking of doing it yourself," I give my friend a knowing smile then giggle again as Shadowcat's reaction to my kiss replays in my head. "I wish I'd had a camera!"

"Oooh, great idea," BoomBoom exclaims excitedly while grabbing my arm and pulling me toward the bedroom we share at the institute. "I know I've got one of those disposable ones around here somewhere," she declares as soon as we enter the room.

"Everything's always 'around here somewhere' with you," I shake my head in resignation and move to help her search through her disorganized belongings in search of the camera. "It's no wonder you can't find anything when you need it."

"Hey, I know it looks like a mess, but I've got a system," she defends the chaos of her side of the room and rummages in her closet for what they want.

"Some system," I scoff as she fails to find the thing in the closet and I have no luck locating it in her dresser. 

"I didn't say it worked," she moves to the bed and drops to the floor to look underneath it, "just that I had one," I roll my eyes at that typical response then watch as she jumps back to her feet with a triumphant shout. "I knew it was here! And look," she hurries to my side and shoves the camera at me, "a full roll."

"You don't really think we'll use all 24 do you?" I ask, knowing the answer just by the way she was pointing out the fact that the thing hadn't been used yet.

"We can certainly try and, hey," she grins mischievously, "it's all for Kitty's experiment. You wanna do all you can to help a fellow X-Grrl, right?"

"Who are we going to get first?" my eyes light up with the possibilities.

"I say first come first serve."

"The guys should be hanging out in the rec. room about now, talking about sports and all that boring junk," anticipatory smiles curl both our mouths as plans begin to form. 

"You are such a bad girl."

"Takes one to know one," we share a laugh at that then I bring us back on track. "Let's go shut up some boys!"

With that we rush from the room, down the hallway and to the stairs intent on reaching the first floor of the mansion where we'd find the guys and talking excitedly along the way about who each of us wanted to kiss. She called dibs on Ray, while I tagged Bobby for myself and quickly added Sam before she could list him. That began an argument on exactly how I'd be able to get Sam, who was really rather shy around all the girls, to talk enough to qualify as a test subject for the experiment.

"I'll get him to talk about that racing stuff he likes to do," I say after a moments thought. "You get that boy started about dirtbikes and he forgets all about the fact that he's talking to a girl."

"True," Tabitha concedes with a groan that speaks of the time she made the mistake of asking him about that hobby of his. "Will that count, though? I mean if you ask him to talk about something then how much can you really want to shut him up?"

"Like you care about rules," I come to a stop and scoff at her again.

"True," she looks at me with a shameless grin that makes us both laugh and we continue quickly toward our destination.

Still wrapped up in our discussion neither of us notices the man at the bottom of the staircase as we begin racing down it. Which is why all three of us are surprised when I plow into his back causing Tabitha to crash into me and the momentum from the combined impacts sent us tumbling down the last two steps to land in a tangled mass in the foyer. A familiar growl of aggravation from the hard male body beneath mine tells me instantly that I've just taken down the Wolverine. Cringing inwardly I squeeze my eyes shut and tell myself this isn't really happening. Then Tabby untangles herself, gets up off my back and helps me to my feet and I force myself to face the prone man before us. 

"Sorry 'bout that, Badger, we didn't see you there," I hear her say to Logan as he pushes himself back to his feet and turns to glare at us.

Wanting very much to strangle her for provoking him with that nickname she tends to favor on top of everything else, I close my eyes again and wait for the fireworks to begin.

"There are rules against runnin' in this place to prevent accidents like this," he growls at us both, ignoring Tabitha's words. "Someone could have gotten hurt or something broken."

Gasping at the words 'something broken' I turn and glance worriedly at the camera in BoomBoom's hand to make sure it wasn't damaged in the fall. Seeing it still in one piece, I relax and then tense again upon realizing she's not done trying to irritate the bristly man before us.

"Hey, no harm no foul, ease up on the stern glares, Growly Gus," the blonde orders with a careless air. "It was only, like, two steps and that isn't enough of a fall to crack an egg. I'm sure your hard head survived it."

"Tabitha," I whisper, frantically trying to shut her up before that vein in his forehead explodes.

"That's beside the point, Smith," each word comes out slowly from between his grinding teeth. "Someone _could_ have been hurt, which is why there are _rules against runnin' inside tha mansion_."

"Geez, Louise, all this place has is rules. How am I supposed to remember them all?" 

"Here's an easy way for you to do just that. Know that if it's something _you_ want to do, it's against the rules here."

"Well, then, the rules here are just meant to be broken."

"The rules here are in place for your safety, kid," he growls and begins on a lecture I've heard him give Tabitha many times before. "I don't go around makin' them up for my own amusement."

I start blocking him out after that because the words aren't really directed at me and even if they were I know them by heart. 'The rules are to keep you from getting hurt by your own careless stupidity,' 'they help keep the institute in one piece so we don't all have to live in a wreck like the Brotherhood house,' and so on and so on and so on. 

Then it occurs to me that we're being given the perfect opportunity to test Kitty's theory again. A quick look at Tabby tells me the blonde is well aware of that fact and that she's planning on being the one to kiss him into silence.

"You can't," I whisper with a hand going to her wrist to hold her back when she would have made her move toward him. "Rogue'll kill you."

"Oh, puh-lease," she casually waves off my words. "You think I'm afraid of Miss Angst?"

"No," I reply with a knowing glance at my friend, "I _know_ you're afraid of her. She could so kick you butt and we both know it. She made it very clear that _he's_ off limits to you."

"_She's_ not in charge of me and she'll never know unless you tell her."

"Remember your brilliant 'take a picture' idea?" I lift her hand up to draw her attention to the camera she's holding. "It's going to be rather obvious what happened and if you do it to him she'll freak. I," a wicked smile curls my lips as I cast a sideways glance toward Mr. Logan, "on the other hand was given no warning to keep my hands off him so I get to do it."

"No way. It's my turn," she argues, very obviously wanting to lock lips with the big guy herself regardless of how Rogue will react to her doing so.

"This isn't about turns, it's about opportunities."

"Fine, then. This is my opportunity."

"No, it isn't."

"Yes, it is. He's lecturing _me_."

Mentally conceding that she had a point there, I pause and hear Logan continuing his lecture in the background, apparently uncaring of the fact that we were both ignoring him. Taking a page from Tabitha's book on ways to incur the Wolverine's wrath, I turn to the man and very firmly tell him to, "Shut up."

He stares at me in shock for a split second then breaks off his 'reason for rules' speech to Tabby to begin giving me his 'respecting your elders' lecture.

"He's lecturing me now," I point out with gloating satisfaction.

"That's cheating!"

"All's fair," I shrug without a shred of guilt at using such a dirty tactic to win the debate.

"I get Sam for this," she huffs, silently giving me permission to kiss away on our current subject. "And if he's half as good as he looks I'm taking Bobby as well."

"Just don't forget to take the picture. I know I'm going to want to proof of this one," I order, focusing my attention on Logan and making a mental note to deal with her conditions later.

She gives me an abrupt nod of agreement then jerks her head toward the man we'd been arguing over with an unspoken prodding for me to hurry up and kiss him. 

Not having a whole lot of experience with kissing guys I'm not about to be rushed through this process. So slowly he probably doesn't even realize I'm doing it, I move in closer to Logan, carefully avoiding his hands when he gestures with them expressively. He's a lot bigger up close than I ever really noticed, though he's not a very tall guy, so I have to take a moment to figure out the best way to get my lips up to his. With a gleam in my eyes I come to the decision to go about this in the most shocking way possible to make sure he's indeed silenced.

While he's preparing to move on to the next sentence in his lecture I jump up on him, throwing my arms tight around his neck and locking my legs around his waist, vaguely aware of Tabby calling out something like 'Ride 'em cowgirl' as I do so. The second he opens his mouth to question my actions I yank his head down to mine and press my lips to his. I move my mouth tentatively at first, twisting my head from side to side to find a comfortable angle that didn't bump our noses together. 

Then I've got things just the way I think they're supposed to be and I let my tongue in on the action while my hands move up to muss his always kind of wild hair. I explore his teeth, almost cutting myself on his surprisingly sharp incisors, before delving deeper to flick my tongue over his. My eyes pop open in shock when I feel his tongue moving against mine, but the second I focus my gaze on his face I can tell he's only using it to try pushing mine out of his mouth, not to return the oral caress. 

His eyes are wide open with a look of utter disbelief in their really rather attractive dark brown depths, his black eyebrows have shot up to almost touching his hairline and I can feel his hands trying to push me away from his mouth and unwrap my legs from his waist at the same time. 

__

Not really a flattering reaction, I pout inwardly as I slowly withdraw my tongue and unwind my limbs from his body. 

My cheeks feel a bit hot and I'm pretty sure I've got a nice red blush on them as I touch my feet back down on the ground and step away from him. He looks at me without saying a word and I fidget a moment before dropping my gaze to the floor, a tad awkward now that it's sinking in that I just kissed the Wolverine. 

Touched tongues and swapped spit with him, as Tabitha would call it.

I hear a clicking sound behind me and turn to see my friend lowering the camera she's just snapped and giving me a thumbs up to indicate that she's captured the moment on film as promised. Biting my lower lip I look back up at Logan, wondering how he'd react to the other girl's actions, but he seems to be focused on coming to grips with my kissing him and doesn't even notice that his picture's been taken. After a moment of just staring at me, he shakes his head, runs a hand through his hair which was spikier in places thanks to my fingers then moves past me to climb back up the stairs we'd bumped into him coming down.

"You are going to love the pics I got of that!" BoomBoom exclaims excitedly as she moves to throw an arm around my shoulders.

__

Pics? Plural? I think with a gulp.

"You took more than one?" 

"Hell yeah! I got the look on his face would you jumped up on him and a great picture of the kiss and then that last one of his expression when you let him go. Priceless!" the blonde gives her camera an enthusiastic kiss. "So," she turns to me with a gleam in her eyes, "what was it like?"

__

Kitty, you've created a monster, I think watching her and forgetting for the moment that I myself had been equally enthusiastic about this project until moments ago.


	6. Tabby's Turn

A/N: Sorry I haven't updated sooner, I'm full of ideas for this and another story I've been writing so I'm splitting my attention between both fics. It may take up to a week for new chapters to be uploaded, so I thank y'all for your continued patience. (((((Hugs to all)))))

Quick note to Vegeta, Rogue will be returning to the series in a few chapters. Mum's the word on what I've planned for her though.

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**__**

Tabby's Turn

"Why won't you tell me?" I frown at Amara and continue trying to get details on her kissing Logan.

"Can we just go find the guys so you can get some testing done?" she again dodges the question.

"Was it that bad?" I persist, growing even more curious with each evasion.

"Look, there goes Bobby to the kitchen we can get him talking there," she grabs my wrist and starts leading me in that direction.

"Whoa, it was that good?"

"It was just a kiss, Tabitha," she comes to a stop to inform me with a slight blush and resigned sigh.

"Just a kiss," I repeat skeptically, crossing my arms over my chest and preparing to stand there like that till I get the information I seek. "If it was just a kiss why won't you tell me about it? Why wouldn't Kitty give us any details? There is definitely something more to it than a simple kiss and I wanna know what it is. Tell me _now._"

"There's nothing to _tell_," she maintains. "I was just testing Kitty's theory. He was talking. I kissed him. He stopped talking. End of experiment, end of story," she turns and resumes walking toward the kitchen apparently uncaring if I follow or not.

Sighing in frustration that she obviously won't be dishing the dirt, I reluctantly stifle my curiosity and follow her into the kitchen.

"Hello, ladies," Bobby looks up from making a sandwich to greet them with a player's grin as soon as they enter the room. "What are you two up to?"

"You know me," I sidle up to his side and say flirtatiously, "nothing but trouble."

"What'd you blow up this time?" he asks with a smile before turning his attention back to the snack he was preparing.

"Blowing something up with my little firecrackers is _far_ from the only way I can and do get into trouble around here," I inform him with a grin, hopping up on to the counter and snagging the pickle he just put on the sandwich.

"So I've noticed," he remarks wryly, watching as I eat the stolen gherkin.

Over his shoulder I notice Amara waving her arms to get my attention and frown at her interrupting my fledgling conversation. Then I see her mouth the word "Camera," reminding me of our mission and my desire to have all the subjects' 'after test' expressions captured on film and hop down to the floor to discreetly pass the item to her.

"What are the X-Boys up to this afternoon? Usual rowdiness in the rec. room?" I lean against the counter and clepto another pickle before he finishes assembling his sandwich.

"Pretty much," he starts putting the unused portions of food away like a good young man and I see the perfect opportunity to get him all chatty for my little test.

__

Plus, I'm kinda hungry and the sub he's put together looks real tasty so it's all good.

With my notorious disregard for others, I pick the treat up off its plate, retake my perch atop the counter and take as big a bite out of it as I can. I hear Magma giggle as my cheeks bulge out like a chipmunks as I chew the wad of food and cross my eyes in her direction to increase the funny factor. Unsurprisingly I instantly hear a click that tells me the girl's taken a picture of me in that moment and I groan at how I must look, mentally vowing to burn that sucker the second I get the film developed. 

"Hey!" Iceboy finally finishes putting things away and catches on to the fact that I've claimed his food. "That's mine."

"Mmm," I moan and nod, chewing furiously then swallowing the bite currently filling my mouth. "Did a real good job on it to," I compliment him on the confection of ham, cheese, pickles, lettuce, tomato, onions, mustard and mayo on white bread. "It's yummy," I take another smaller bite, waiting for him to pick his jaw up off the floor and start with the indignant babbling about how in the wrong I was to have taken his snack.

It takes him a bit longer than I would have thought, but just as I'm about to take another bite he gets the ball rolling and I reluctantly put the sandwich back on the plate and hop down to the floor. I give Amara a quick glance to let her know I was getting ready to make my move and she gives me a thumbs up to indicate she's ready to go when I am. I quickly wipe my hands on the seat of my jeans, lick my smiling lips then go for it.

"That was _my_ - " he's in the process of saying when I whirl him around, pin him back against the counter and crush my lips down on his.

His arms flail about and he continues to speak for a moment, giving me ample opportunity to slide my tongue past his lips and explore the cavern beyond. Then he makes a curious kinda groaning sound and wraps his arms around my waist as he slowly begins returning the kiss. My eyes widen briefly in surprise at the feel of his tongue expertly twining itself around mine then I close them with a moan and lean into him, increasing the contact between us and wondering why I haven't done this sooner.

I've got him bent back over the counter and his hands are getting acquainted with my chest when I vaguely hear a throat being cleared behind us. I ignore the sound and continue my exploration of his tonsils until I feel a finger tapping rapidly on my shoulder.

Reluctantly I tear my mouth away from his and turn to glare at the interrupter, gasping for breath I'd kinda forgotten I needed to take. The snap of my photo being taken again answers the 'What?!' I'd been about to ask of Amara, who'd disrupted my fun, and I blink as remember 'the experiment.' 

The girl laughs and takes a picture of what must be a very dumbfounded expression on my face and I determinedly shake off my surprise at how well Bobby can kiss. Just as I'm about to move away from the guy then rush off with her to find our next subject, the Iceman - _after a kiss like that, there's no way I can see him as Ice**boy** again_ – tightens his hold, spins us around so that I'm the one pinned against the counter and puts his mouth to mine again. 

We get a few more moments of surprisingly great make-out time right there in the institute's kitchen, then I feel a hand wrap itself around my wrist and forcibly remove me from his embrace.

"Sorry, Bobby, we've got things to do," I hear Amara apologize to him as she drags me from the room.

"Whoa, hold up, girl," I shake my head in an effort to clear the fog there then yank my arm away to rush back to his side. "Hope ya don't mind," I give him a smile and pick up the plate with the sandwich he'd made, "I'm starving." When he just gives me a kind of dumbfounded glance I drop a quick smooch on his lips, say a cheerful, "Thanks," and turn to rush from the room.

"You're seriously stealing his sandwich?" Amara asks me with a short, disbelieving laugh as I walk along taking bites of the snack.

"Sure," I answer when I've swallowed the most recent mouthful, "I'm hungry and I've already eaten like half. A more important question, though, would be," we walk slowly toward the community room, "why didn't you tell me how good a kisser Icy is? I mean, WOW. Here I always thought with that ice thing he's got that he'd be kinda cold or something, but … " I fan myself expressively, remembering the way he'd had me bent back over the kitchen counter. "Whoo."

"Considering how much you enjoyed that, I'm taking Sam back," accompanied by a secretive smile is her only reply.

"Go for it, honey," I let her have the shy guy back as one of her potential test subjects and idly take another bite of the sandwich. In the process of swallowing the morsel a thought occurs to me, causing me to almost choke on the food and my eyes to pop wide open. "Oh my God. I knew it," I exclaim, putting the nearly finished sandwich down on a small table in the hallway and turning on her excitedly. "That kiss _was_ good."

"Well, yeah, considering how you're all 'wow' and 'whoo' over what a surprise it is to you that Bobby can actually kiss, I kinda already figured out that you liked it," she remarks with a curious look at me.

"Oh, that kiss kicked A, but I'm not talking about me," I pin her down with a wicked stare. "I'm talking about your Logan liplocking. You let me have Bobby, who I said I got _if_ the Badger was half as good a kisser as he looks, therefore by giving me the Iceman you're totally telling me the big guy's goooood. I so knew it wasn't 'just a kiss.'"

"You're reading way too much into this, Tabs," she shakes her long brown hair back. "I saw an opportunity for you to take with Bobby going by himself into the kitchen, that's all. I wasn't even thinking of our dibs."

"Sh-yeah, right," I scoff, coming to a stop at the bottom of the staircase and looking at her skeptically. "I may be a blonde, but I'm _not_ a total idiot. I want those details. Now," I return to the discussion we'd been having before entering the kitchen for me to conduct my first test.

"Ah, Amara, I was just looking for you," Storm says from the stairs above up, drawing our attention that way.

"Is there something wrong, Ms. Munroe?" I hear the girl ask their instructor respectfully before blocking the conversation out and focusing my attention on the Wolverine who was making his way down the steps behind Ororo.

He edges around us wearily, keeping a close eye on Amara as he moves past her on his way to the garage, judging from the direction he was heading with that 'I've got some place to be and I'm getting there right now' kind of stride he has.

"If you're free, I'd like to have a word with you," I hear Storm saying and look up, startled, hoping she wasn't talking to me.

Magma gives me a 'uh-oh, I think I'm in trouble' look and all I can do is shrug, a bit curious myself as to what the conversation would be about.

"I'm not really doing anything right now," she hesitantly informs the instructor.

"Very good," the weather Goddess, as many of us called her, smiles and puts a gentle hand on the girl's shoulder. "Excuse us, Tabitha," Ororo gives me one of her ladylike smiles then begins leading Amara away.

Extremely curious about what's up there I'm tempted to follow them upstairs and do some eavesdropping, but there's something else I'm even more curious about at the moment so when I start moving it's in the direction of the garage not after the two females. If Kitty and my girl won't tell me what kissing Logan's like then I do believe it's time for me to obtain the knowledge firsthand. 

Unlike the others, though, I'm all about kissing the big guy for kissing's sake. The man's gotta be good and I fully intend on finding out just how talented he is.

Smiling with anticipation I enter the workroom and look around to make sure the Wolverine's the only person present other than myself. My gleaming blue eyes locate him studying the passenger side door of the X-Van and, seeing no one who would gossip about what I'm about to do, I move toward him.


	7. Not Again

**__**

Not Again

On closer inspection I have to admit that the damage Kitty did to the X-Van was extremely superficial, but I still feel justified in my earlier lecturing of the kid. _So it was just a tiny dent and a bit of scraped paint on the passenger side door **this time**, but if she doesn't start driving more responsibly the next time could be much worse._

Shaking off those thoughts, I move around the garage to get the few supplies I need to straighten out the indentation and fix the scratched paint. 

The sound of approaching feet causes my head to whip around to see who's coming and I stiffen at the sight of Smith stalking toward me. Cautiously I look behind the blonde for Aquilla, relaxing only a bit when I see the younger girl absent.

"'Ro snagged her for a meeting," Tabitha explains Magma's absence as if sensing the direction of my thoughts. "I wasn't invited."

I give her my standard "didn't ask, don't care" kind of growl and move back to the van to begin work on the repairs.

"So, how bad is it?" I stiffen again as the blonde makes her way over to my side and invades my personal space as she leans forward to inspect the damage. "Where's the big boo-boo Kitty did?" 

With a noncommittal growl I inch a safe distance away from her and gesture toward the area in question. She bends closer to the vehicle and stares intently at the door.

"This?" she touches the area of scratched paint and gives me an incredulous look. "You went off on her 'cause of this?"

"I did not 'go off on her,'" I grind out with a narrowing of my eyes at the accusation.

"Sure you didn't," she patronizes before stepping aside for me to get to work. "Need any help?"

"I think I can manage," I respond with a bit of sarcasm as I quickly and efficiently straighten out the dent with the tools I'd gathered.

"Just thought I'd offer," she states while climbing up to sit on the hood of the van.

"Get down from there," I growl the instant I see her shoes thumping against the paintjob. 

"Overreact much?" she rolls her blue eyes at me but obeys and hops back down to the ground. 

"Shouldn't you be doing homework or something?" I ask impatiently as she goes to leaning against the vehicle just inches from me and intently watches as I try to work.

"Nope," she smiles innocently, "it's Friday. That junk can wait until Sunday night."

Resisting the urge to lecture her on that careless attitude I decide to ignore her and just finish up my task. With that in mind I pick up the can of black spray paint, shake it up and aim it at the scratches.

"Shouldn't you crack a window or something first?" Smith asks, shifting toward me as if to study the can in my hand. "Paint fumes are dangerous aren't they? Don't they rot brain cells or something?"

"Feel free to leave if you're worried," I growl at the interruption.

"I'm not worried, but if I get all woozy and pass out you better catch me before I fall and hit my head on something in here."

Not liking the sound of that one bit I move to crack open a window to make sure the place is properly ventilated since she apparently isn't leaving. Grumbling under my breath I stalk back to the van, aim the spray can again and start to cover the damaged paint.

"So, what was it like kissing Magma?" the blonde asks mischievously.

I should have been expecting it, considering how this kid likes to go out of her way to get a reaction from me, but I hadn't. I'd been so worried about Aquilla tagging along for a repeat performance of her unexpected tongue tango that I hadn't thought about the trouble _this _one'd be likely to stir up. 

Being as I was unprepared for her to broach the subject as she did, it was really no wonder my hand painting the scratch jerked sharply upward in surprise and inadvertently marked the passenger side window of the van with a long black line.

"Whoopsie," Smith chuckles as I quickly take my finger off the nozzle to stop the flow of paint, but the damage has been done. "Not your smoothest move, big guy. Am I making you nervous?" she asks coyly, moving to press herself against me for a split second before I jump away. "Chill, I'm not gonna bite," she smirks at my reaction and leans back against the van while I remain a safe distance away and watch her wearily for the slightest move in my direction. "Unless you're into that kinda thing."

"Look, kid," I begin with a groan at the gleam in her eyes, "what I'm 'into' is none of your concern, but I assure ya if you're doin' it I ain't gonna be 'into' it. Not," I groan again at the genuine hurt that touches her expression at that and I get to thinking about how damned sensitive girls are and how you gotta reject 'em just right or else they'll be scarred against men for the rest of their lives, "that you're unattractive. You're just too young. Way too young."

"I'm almost two years older than Amara and just five minutes ago you were letting her ride ya like a cowgirl in the foyer!"

"I was not 'lettin' her ride me like a cowgirl' or anything else! She's took me by surprise," I defend indignantly.

"Oh, really? That's all it takes? The element of surprise gets anyone a Logan liplock?" 

__

Logan liplock? 

I blink at that phrase then blink again as I recognize her preparing to pounce as Pryde and Aquilla had before her. 

"What tha hell do you think you're doin'?" I ask her as my hands grab onto her shoulders and keep her at arms length while she began to pout at being stop short of her objective.

"Nothing," she attempts to push forward despite my restraining hold and glares at me when she fails. "Why can't those muscles just be for show?" she groans, mostly to herself, before giving up and turning away. "You can relax, Badger, I'm not gonna jump ya."

"Why tha hell were you tryin' to?" I keep both eyes locked on her, not believing this sudden mind change for a second. "What tha hell is goin' on around here today?!"

"I dunno, what's going on?" she gives me an innocent look then turns to study the black line I painted on the window because of her. "You probably should've removed this before it dried," she touches the line and pulls her fingers back to wave them at me, showing their lack of paint on them.

"I can still get it off," I don't spare the van so much as a single glance. 

"I bet you've got all kinds of tricks up those short sleeves to get things off," she drawls in a blatant sexual innuendo that I am very not comfortable with.

"Smith, I think maybe you should go back inside now."

"Why? Am I bothering you?" she takes a casual stride in my direction and I move back about ten steps to keep a healthy distance between us. "Man, you're jumpy aren't you," she smiles wickedly, advances a few steps then laughs as I retreat even further. "If I didn't know better, I'd think you were actually afraid of me. That couldn't be, though, could it?" my back comes up against a wall and I begin edging to the left toward the door as she continues to slowly stalk me. "The infamous Wolverine isn't really trying to run away from lil ol' me, is he?" she suddenly lunges forward and blocks my exit, forcing me to backtrack quickly to the right. 

"Look, kid, I don't know what you're up to and I really don't wanna. I'm a lil old to be playin' this kinda game with ya, so just step aside and forget about whatever's going on in that head of yours," I tell her calmly, slowly working my way to the garage door opener to free up that escape route.

"Oh, relax," she stops, puts her hands on her hips and rolls her eyes at me. "I'm not plotting some diabolical scheme … at this particular moment," she tacks on quietly after a thoughtful moment. "I just wanna know what it's like and the others won't tell me so I've got to find out for myself." 

__

It? 

Others?

Huh?

"Not that I really mind," she continues as confusion furrows my brow at her words. "I mean, hey, despite your unknown advanced age, you really are hunky. The hair, the muscles, that sexy growling thing you do … yeah, that's the one," she smiles happily when a frustrated growl rumbles through my chest. "The whole black leather and biker thing is waaaay hot and you've got this caring side we sometimes get to see that makes a gal all swoony imagining you as a dashing hero who swoops in when she's in trouble, squashes the bad guys like irritating little bugs then wraps her up in those strong, bulging arms and oh so tenderly makes sure she was unharmed by the heathens."

Any hope of me understanding a word she was saying flew out the window as soon as she said the word 'swoony' – _is that even a word?_ – and I absently lift a hand to scratch at the back of my head.

"What?" I finally demand.

"I've read a few romance novels," she divulges with a slight blush, "those things just get in your head and start a gal thinking all kinds of funky stuff. _Not_ that I seriously think that way about you … often," she begins to fidget under my increasingly puzzled gaze and I'm coming to the conclusion that this is either some kind of Candid Camera shtick or I'm in a Twilight Zone …_ possibly Bizzaro World_. "I mean, it's natural for a maturing hormonal girl surrounded by incredibly good looking men that she's in no way related to to wonder in passing a time or two what those guys are like in certain situations that may not always be appropriate, but it's just fantasy and there's no harm in thinking," she takes a breath and I continue to just stare at her as all she's saying adds up to a big much of nothing in my head like she's speaking a foreign language and, at moments like this, I really do think teenaged girl _is_ a foreign language no grown man is meant to ever decipher. "Acting on impulses is what leads to trouble, like you keep telling me. So all this thinking I've done or not done about you really doesn't matter until I go and do something like this." 

She has me so distracted with her babbling that I've dropped my guard and, like I teach these kids for battle situations, Smith saw the opening and took the opportunity to make her move. 

For the third time in this seemingly endless day I find my body unexpectedly assaulted by an X-Girl. 

This one pushes my against a workbench, the obstacle catching me at the back of the knees and knocking me off balance until I'm forced to sit down on it. Before I can get my brain to think of evasive maneuvers or anything other than a bewildered _'Not again' _she's grinning all over herself in satisfaction at my position then climbing up to straddle me with way too much ease and skill for a girl her age. 

"I fibbed about the biting," she whispers in my ear as she settles atop me and digs her fingers in my hair to pull my head back.

The meaning of those words doesn't even have a chance to sink in before her teeth nip sharply at my lower lip. I open my mouth in surprise at the sting, but my exclamation of outrage was silenced by her red lips smashing down on mine. Having had more than enough of these shenanigans to last me a life time I snap the opening closed when her tongue breaches the line of my teeth. Unfortunately, my reactions were a bit too late and only served to capture the wriggling organ in my mouth.

She makes a rather happy little sound in her throat at that, curling the tip of her tongue up over the backs of the teeth holding it, and begins stroking her fingers through my hair rather than just using them to keep my head angled back for her onslaught. Her head starts twisting from side to side, finding ways to increase the depth and friction of the kiss, until I finally recover the sense to lift my hands to grab hold of her shoulders. Instead of forcing her away the instant they touch her, though, my fingers freeze as her tongue starts doing this thing in my mouth that I don't think I've ever felt before in my entire life. 

After a delay I'll forever kick myself for allowing I pry her off, pushing her away and scrambling to my feet without much concern for the fact that I literally dumped the girl on her butt. 

"So that's what the hubbub's about," she says a bit oddly while raking a hand through her hair, apparently uncaring of her position on the garage floor.

A great many things spin around in my head, waiting to be said to make it clear this never should have happened and never will again.

So you can imagine _my_ surprise when this question is the first thing that comes out, "What tha hell was that thing you did in my mouth?"

"Liked that, did ya?" she grins up at me and slowly licks her lips. "Called a 'tongue tornado' and," my eyes widen in horror as she leers her way up and down my body, "the mouth isn't the only place I can do it."

__

Jesus Christ, I need a vacation, I think as I walk quickly from the garage without responding to that line.

~*~

A/N: Sooo sorry for taking longer than I promised in getting this chapter up. I'm all distracted again, so not sure when I'll get the next one up, which will be Ororo's talk with Amara. Then it'll be Rogue's chappie. Please be patient for those updates, though. 


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